2. one - blood line

senior year

first trimester (four months)

i remember that it hurt.

looking at him hurt.

luke hemmings was never known as that boy. you know the one i'm talking about. not exactly the everyday, stereotypical blond-haired football player or the shy band nerd that listens to the smiths and covers his hair up with a beanie. no, not that at all.

he was never really known as the angry kid either. maybe a bit intimidating, but not angry. all luke hemmings ever did was shut everybody out. he lost a lot of friends that way. well, at least, counting the few friends he had.

a player, or fuckboy, is not how you would describe him either. yes, he kind of has a reputation of doing it with several girls in school, but he isn't a player. besides, the girls practically throw themselves at him. but i'm sure he'd take the chance to do it with a girl, no matter what the reason.

i guess you could say luke hemmings was.. interesting.

as someone who's been in school with luke from the start, you could say he's changed. in grade school, he used to be much more talkative. but as he got older, he became more silent. words barely escaped his mouth. all he would do is go to school, do homework, and attend band practice.

that's not the practice i'm talking about. i told you earlier that he isn't the shy band nerd. he and his friends, michael, calum, and ashton, (is that his name?) started a real band together. 5 seconds of summer, i believe it's called. don't ask me how i know this. because no one else in school really knows about their band.

luke didn't smile much. life for him after middle school was all a blur.

"orion.. can i just call you rian?" the afterschool teacher asked me. i needed my service hours on my record to get into a good college, or, mostly, the university of washington. i know it's a low chance that i'll get accepted into a college in another country that's halfway across the world, but seeing the letter i wrote to my senior self in freshman year reminded me again.

dear orion, it wrote.

well, i don't know what to say. i've known you all my life. of course i have different goals i want to achieve by senior year, but it's all a blur to me. college doesn't really matter to me much. as long as i maintain my slightly high gpa and get through all of my ap classes, i'll be fine.

if you're reading this, senior y̶o̶u̶ me, we better have an escape plan by now.

much love,

orion

i nod at the teacher, "sure. but if you ever want to call me by my actual name, it's pronounced or-eye-in."

"lucas hemmings," the teacher said to luke.

luke gave her a blank stare, "it's luke. my name isn't lucas. you got it wrong."

she nodded, "of course, my mistake luca- luke. sorry about that. i'm not good with names." she chuckled and put down her notebook.

right. i wanted to roll my eyes. teachers only say they're bad with names because they don't care in general about their students.

"so," ms. quintal sighed. "i'll see you both here once a week to babysit the younger children, yes?" she assured.

"mhm," i lamely reply. luke grunts and ms. quintal spins her chair back to face her pc, clacking on the keys as she types.

a high-pitched, cheery voice catches my attention and i turn my head to face a little boy, jumping up to sit on luke's lap. "luke!" the black-haired boy squeals.

luke smiles softly, a bit of teeth flashing. "hey, little one."

that was the first time i ever saw luke robert hemmings smile.

until he didn't. the little kid scurried away from him as luke raised his hand up to touch a scratch on his nose. when he pulled back his pale hand, a line of faint blood remained on his thumb.